Apple Accused Of Patent Infringement Again

Apple isn’t a stranger to patent lawsuits, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the company is accused once more of patent infringement. What’s interesting about the case brought up by Anne Arbor from infrared laser startup Omni MedSci is that this is the second time the tech titan is being brought to court for using another company’s heart monitoring technology.

Arbor is accusing Apple of knowingly infringing on their patent-pending laser technology and claims that their tech was used in every Apple watch since the Series 1. The technology was invented by Omni MedSci employee Dr. Mohammed Islam in 2012 and he filed a patent application for the tech the same year.

According to Omni MedSci, Apple noticed the tech patent and invited Dr. Islam to talk about the possibility of licensing or acquiring the patent and patent-pending technology. However, the company changed its mind on the possibility of collaboration, but only after Dr. Islam had given the company important data about the technology and shared the published patent applications with them.

Dr. Islam has emails to support the claim, including transcripts detailing how he sent Apple two of the issued patents and copies of the permitted claims for the other two. To these emails, an Apple employee replied, “[Apple does not] wish to receive any information about any of your IP (Intellectual Property).” The lawsuit naturally concludes that “based on the communications and meetings between Dr. Islam and Apple personnel, Apple knew of its infringement of the Patents-in-Suit or was willfully blind to its infringement.”

If Apple is found guilty, the company will have to pay damages to Omni MedSci. In a similar case two years ago, Valencell sued Apply for deceit and patent infringement regarding their heart rate sensor. The claimant said that Valencell’s white papers, the reports that detail how the tech works, were downloaded by Apple employees under fake names, breaching a contract signed when downloading said papers.